Hello all! Well, I thought I was being a smart ass putting a Basis Vector 3 on a Rega p9(original version) but the joke may well be on me. I was able to get around the VTA issue with a locking collar and washers which worked out OK but I seem to be having troubles getting enough tracking force to make everything work. I know that there are add on weights for this arm but I figured that it would work with a range of cartridges out of the box.

Long story short, I first tried an Audio Technica AT33PTG that was on my Origin Live arm and there was no way to get enough VTF without adding a bunch of weight on. A moment of silence please as this cartridge no longer has a tip. Great cart by the way and an outstanding cost vs. performance ratio as well.

Now then, that cart is not terribly heavy at 6.8 grams but I briefly popped a Shelter 501II on there which is 8.1 and the arm is still tipping back even with the weight right close to the pivot point. I had read that the Denon DL103 was a good match for this arm but it's even lighter so that's where I decided to leave things for now and see if anyone has some insight.

I am quite excited to hear this arm as it is supposedly top notch but so far it doesn't seem that things are going my way. Not too concerned as it still has 0 hours on it so if it isn't meant to be I'm sure that there will be interest on this wonderful website. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Sorry to waste your time everyone, I have decided to quit while I'm ahead on this one and move the arm to a home that is better suited. Both the base/pole of the arm and the VTA and VTF issues that I had suggest that this arm is better suited to a different table and different cartridges than I am using. I should have done a bit more homework before pulling the trigger but I was afraid that I would get scooped on a great deal.

If this were a true drop in Rega replacement mount I would be more willing to work with it but the whole ordeal has me wanting to focus on a more simple analog rig for the time being.

Thanks for the response. I can't quite get my head around a complete upgrade and changeover at the moment. I thought that maybe they had a different base for the arm to mount on other types of tables but it seems that is not the case. Having to use spacers to adjust VTA just seems plain wrong on an arm like this and the VTA micrometer becomes essentially useless so all that just didn't quite add up for me.

I don't quite understand why you need washers to mount a Vector. I had a Vector 3 mounted on a Verdier turntable and had to extend the arm up high enough to align properly, I mounted a small wood block with carpet tape under the micrmeter to adjust VTA. The Vector has a long mounting post that should be adaquate to mount on your Rega. I also used a Shelter 90X and a Denon 103 cartridge with two counter weights and had plenty of adjustment left. One thing about The Vector is the bearing has a small shoulder around the dimple that the point should mate with. You have to be carefull that the point is not resting on the shoulder and is inserted in the bearing properly. This could change your VTF.

Marty, your suggestion sounds like it would work fine. Since this morning, I have discovered that the arm that I have has a "Heavy" counterweight which I have determined is the main issue regarding VTF. It must be designed to use with cartridges 10 grams or more. The lighter counterweight should do the trick, I was thinking that more weight close to the pivot point was what was needed but apparently not.

That being said, I have decided to have some more patience and not sell it quite yet. I was getting kind of fed up but now that I have gone this far it now seems worth it to push on. My original post was late at night and I spent quite a bit of time trying to make everything work and when I discovered that the stylus had disappeared from my cartridge I decided that it would be best to pack everything up and call it quits.

All that being said, would there happen to be anyone who owns a Vector arm that is willing to have a brief discussion via email? I haven't heard back from Basis themselves yet regarding a couple of questions I had and I don't want to pester a dealer after buying the arm off of Audiogon. I'm wondering in particular about the silicone and what one does if they are wanting to change a cartridge or to make any adjustments. It seems like things could get messy in that regard so I wanted to pick someone's brain who has some experience in this regard.

Just as an update here, I was able to get this up and running this morning. All that was really required was a weight for the front of the tonearm to balance out the heavy counterweight that I picked up from a local dealer and it worked like a charm.

In the end I didn't end up needing to use washers so thanks for the suggestion there. It was a bit tricky to get everything centered perfectly and not leaning one way or the other but it worked out fine in that regard.

I think that when all was said and done I had to take a few deep breaths and have a lot more patience getting everything going. This arm is wonderfully precice and as a result it requires a lot of attention to detail in order to get everything exactly right.

Anyways, all's well that ends well and first impressions are quite favourable. I ended up putting on a Denon DL103S(elliptical stylus, tracks at 1.8 grams) and everything sounds great. I would definitely say that there is a greater sense of acoustic space versus any other arm that I've used bringing you a bit closer to the recording itself which is what I was really after more so than anything. Although I have a few more grey hairs at this point, the end result was quite worth it.

I'll likely have some more questions at some point but for now it's time to sit back and enjoy. Thanks again for the input I really appreciate it.